Do we like them?

Do we like MC Jin?

Our score: 8 out of 10. Decent record, a visible stand against anti-Asian hate and no harmful words found, but our search turned up little on some topics.

Jin was a teenager when he won a run of rap battles on BET's 106 & Park and became the first Asian-American rapper signed to a major label, Ruff Ryders. His 2004 debut got mixed reviews, and the single 'Learn Chinese' didn't chart in the US. He called the album a flop in his own words: 'It bombed.'

After parting ways with Ruff Ryders in 2006, he put out music independently, even selling an album through MySpace. In 2008 Universal Music Hong Kong gave him a second shot, and he became a TV, film and endorsement name there. He says the setback helped him: “Maybe things not panning out how I wanted it to saved my life.”

The one real stoush is from December 2020. A line in the film Monster Hunter, which he appeared in, upset many Chinese viewers and the film was pulled from Chinese cinemas. Jin and the director both apologised, and the line was cut from releases. Reaction to the apology was mixed, and that's the one proper stain we found.

His recent work is a long way from the culture-war crowd. In 2025 he co-founded Pacific Music Group, a Hong Kong label, with NE-YO, Sonu Nigam and exec Jonathan Serbin, and he now mentors emerging Asian artists. He told BroadwayWorld: “the only consistent factor through it all is the love for hip hop itself.”

No court cases, accusations or dodgy company turned up in our searches, though the gaps are real: the rest of his catalogue is thinly covered and we couldn't open every article. Nothing new or messy has landed lately. For a rapper who started in a Chinese restaurant kitchen in Miami and kept going, he's easy to back.